planning: spring and summer

If your late-spring and summer plans haven’t quite taken shape, this might be a good time to browse the many offerings at Hugo House. The Summer 2021 catalog is now online and registration is open. There are also loads of events, including a free, every-Thursday-in-June Quarantine Write-In with Rena Priest and a free one-hour lunchtime writing Q&A with Rick Barot. The summer write-in events continue in July with Sierra Nelson and August with Jaimie Li. And that’s just a taste of what’s coming up.

as long as you’re at home…

…why not take a class? Wherever you may be in the world, the Hugo House catalog for Winter and Spring offers scores of online classes in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, mixed genre, reading, writing for performance, etc. Whether you want a multi-week class or a one- or two-session intensive, there’s probably something here to expand your vision and your skills.

And while you’re on the Hugo House site, be sure to browse the list of near-daily events — readings, write-ins, Q & A, and much more.

back to school

Are you ready to shake up your writing practice? Fall classes are about to begin. Most classes and workshops are being offered online, which means that geography doesn’t matter. We’ve put together a list of a number of places that are offering online adult learning programs this fall (some starting very soon). This list is not comprehensive and you are encouraged to check offerings at colleges, universities, and even bookstores. The classes vary in length, format, starting date, and price. But it’s free to browse, so have a look:

• Attic Institute
• Beyond Baroque
• Brooklyn Poets
• Catapult
• Chuckanut Writers
• Firefly Creative Writing
• Gotham Writers
• Hugo House
• Imprint Bookstore and the Writers’ Workshoppe
• Literary Arts
• The Loft
• Maine Media
• The Muse Writers Center
• Poets House
• Oklahoma State University Tulsa
• The Porch
• Portland Community College
• Sackett Street Writers
• UCLA Extension
• Unterberg Poetry Center 92Y
• The Writer’s Center
• The Writer’s Workshop
• The Writing Salon

fall classes, virtually

Registration for fall classes at Hugo House is now open, and if you register by August 31, 2020, you’ll get Early Bird Pricing. All Hugo House classes and events will take place virtually for the remainder of 2020, so you can participate no matter where you are.

The Fall catalog is crammed with inspired instructors offering stimulating classes, from one- and two-session intensives to courses of six to sixteen weeks and even yearlong programs. Subjects cover the gamut: fiction, nonfiction, memoir, poetry, mixed genre, reading, and pretty much everything in between.

As usual, Hugo House also has a busy calendar of readings and writing activities.

school minus the class

Interested in diving deeper into a particular topic? Over at Entropy, they’ve done the heavy lifting on a wide array of subjects. Since 2015, writers have been putting together class descriptions along with a list of relevant resource materials. Each class is presented as a MINI-SYLLABUS: everything you need to conduct yourself through the class, except there’s no actual class.

Celebrating… soon

It’s nearly here: the grand re-opening of Hugo House. Mark your calendar and join the festivities on Saturday, September 22, 2018, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM, to see the 10,000 square foot space for writers and readers, and to enjoy readings, performances, installations, music, and more. It’s all at 1634 Eleventh Avenue, on the corner of Eleventh and East Olive, in Seattle. See the full line-up and RSVP.

Meanwhile, the Hugo House Fall Catalog is now online and registration will begin soon (with Early Bird pricing August 20 through September 3).

summer at Hugo House

The Hugo House summer 2018 course catalog is now online and registration begins this week (June 5 for members and June 12 for non-members). Early Bird Pricing is in effect June 4 through June 18. As usual, the offerings include a wide range of workshops, intensives, courses, and master classes in many writing genres.

Meanwhile, construction continues on the new Hugo House, at 11th and E. Olive on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, and the projected move-in date is September 2018.

good news

Terrific news for Hugo House, which has received a Building for the Arts grant of $1.032 million from Washington state — a significant portion of the funds needed to purchase the new space and turn it into a home for writers.

Thank you to everyone who contacted their legislators and advocated to secure this funding, which will not only fund our new home but also supports many other arts and cultural organizations across the state. Everything we’re most proud of in our city has been realized because of community action, and that includes Hugo House. And thank you to our legislators for investing in the cultural vitality of Seattle.

Seattle needs writers and writers need Hugo House. With UNESCO’s recent designation of Seattle as a City of Literature, it’s fitting that our city will have a new literary destination — a place where people can come any night of the week to hear readers, get feedback on works-in-progress, exchange ideas, and come together over a shared belief in careful attention to language.

Learn more about Hugo House and its tremendous selection of writing programs and events.

winter writing

The Hugo House Winter 2018 Writing Classes catalog is now available online and early-bird registration continues through December 11 (save $10 off one-session classes, $20 off classes that are two to six sessions, and $35 off classes that are eight sessions or more). Click to see the Class Catalog, and while you’re in the neighborhood, have a look at the listing of Events in store at Hugo House.

starting soon!

Here at The Poetry Department, we’re big fans of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and of Modern & Contemporary American Poetry (“ModPo”) in particular. This ten-week, FREE, interactive, online poetry course is demanding and rewarding. An “introduction to modern and contemporary U.S. poetry, with an emphasis on experimental verse, from Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman to the present,” it combines readings, webcasts, video discussions, forums, and, if desired, writing assignments. The fall session begins on Saturday, September 9, 2017, and concludes on November 20, 2017. For more information and to enroll, visit the ModPo page on Coursera.